December 29, 2010

Forget Comcast & Zappos - Let's Help OUR Clients Shine

As someone who has read plenty of marketing/social media blog posts and seen quite a few conference presentations and keynotes, I’m starting to get a little frustrated. Why? Because it seems like the ONLY examples of “great customer service through social media” that presenters have used over the past two years are Comcast and Zappos.

I recently watched yet another webinar in which those examples were used. Funny to me is the fact that Comcast has been used as an example for so long that Frank Eliason – the guy most people refer to in presentations for building Comcast's online customer service reputation - doesn’t even work for them anymore.

So, if Comcast and Zappos are ALWAYS referenced in the presentations and keynotes of the “top” social media and marketing experts, why don’t those same experts have their own clients who have done praiseworthy work? If a marketer can pinpoint what it is that makes a company’s customer service remarkable, why aren’t his or her clients able to put that insight to good use?

As marketers, let’s spend less time citing worn out examples and more time making our clients stand out. Less time repeating what everyone else has said for the past 24 months and more time helping our clients become the next worn-out examples of excellence.

There’s nothing wrong with citing a nationally-renowned example to make a point in our presentations. But if we can’t also mention our own client’s similar success in the same (or at least a similar) context, we’re not really proving our expertise.

It’s great to recognize examples of great work or great customer service. Let's just make sure we can also help our clients provide an exemplary level of great work and great customer service.

Comments

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Truth. Service does need to be believed by the company. But I also think that continuing to emphasize the importance of "service" to a brand's image and/or success means we need to help these brands incorporate service into their culture. It's one thing to point out good examples. It's another to help them integrate the fundamentals that make companies like Zappos/Comcast great into their own organization.

In some ways, it's like telling a football player who hopes to be a pro someday to "be like an NFL player." Without coaching them in ways that will help them improve their skills, giving them examples of players who are already great at it won't help a ton.

That said, I think an important step to take (which you guys did well in *your* recent webinar) is to point out the smaller and/or local companies who do things well, as you did with Queen City Bakery. Showing how a focus on "the little things" can lead to great customer service is important and useful because it helps other businesses see that it's not an impossible undertaking (which is how it can feel when you hear "Zappos is great, be great at customer service like they are!"). With your webinar, it was nice to finally see a new, relatable example supported with solid logic and explanation.

On a final note, I'd say if a marketer (or marketing agency) can help its clients improve their customer service, it makes a lot of things easier for everyone involved. It's a good incentive for both sides of the equation to work on customer service as far as I'm concerned. (That's not a point related to your comment, John. It's just sort of a side thought.)

Thanks for the insight and feedback! Always good to hear what you have to say.

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We are advertising, media and marketing communications professionals. We are not a large advertising agency. We don’t want to be. We would much rather create handcrafted advertising and marketing communications strategies for a few very special clients than crank out a whole bunch of mediocre work for every advertiser with a pulse and checkbook.